ProfessorWei Duan

Being an Australian leader in developing aptamers against cancer stem cells, Professor Duan is well recognised for his innovative and translational medical research. For example, his work of developing RNA aptamer for cancer diagnosis and treatment was cited by Senator Kim Carr (Minister for Innovation), in his press release on 7 January 2011 as a fine example of the world-class research carried out by Australian leading researchers funded by the Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Australian Government.

(http://www.industry.gov.au/science/internationalcollaboration/Documents/Cancer_Diagnostics_Case_Study.pdf)

In addition, Professor Duans work has enjoined wide coverage by both domestic and international media (for a TV interview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=cn_up61UnQY#at=244).

Newspaper coverage of Professor Duan's research:

1) The Australian newspaper, March 19, 2011, Article by Reporter Alexander Gambotto-Burke.

2) The Age newspaper, Melbourne: July 5, 2010, Article by Reporter Danny Rose.

3) Australian Broadcast Corporation, National Australia Radio, March 11, 2011, Interview with Desley Blanch.

4) Australian Broadcast Corporation, Melbourne Radio, February 17 (17:35), Prime time Interview with Lindy Burns.

5) Victoria TV Channel 31: Special features at 18:30, 9 March 2011, Length: 7 min 42 sec.

6) Geelong Advertiser: July 6, 2010, Article by Reporter Joel Cresswell.

7) Geelong Independent: February 25, 2011, Article by Erin Pearson.

1) Researcher of the Year Awards 2008 - Biotechnology Award from Department of Innovation, Industry and Regional Development, State Government of Victoria and Smart Geelong Network.

2) Researcher of the Year 2011, Smart Geelong Network

Invited addresses:

1. Wei Duan, A Novel Paradigm in Mammalian Cell Signaling, Signal TransductionTargets for effective therapeutics, Cambridge Healthtech Institute, Seaport Hotel, Boston, MA, USA, November 8-9, 2004. [My talk was reviewed in Rounding up the usual suspects: protein kinases as the therapeutic targets, S.B. Shears, Drug Discovery Today.10(4):240-242, 2005.]

2. Wei Duan, Signaling via a novel integral plasma membrane pool of protein kinase C, The Hunter Meeting of Cell Biology, Sydney, Australia, 6-8 April, 2005.

3. Wei Duan, Herbal Medicine In AustraliaTransforming Ancient Remedy With Nanotechnology, 59th Indian Pharmaceutical Congress, Varanasi-221 005, Uttar Pradesh, India, 20-23 December, 2007.

4. Wei Duan, Development of Molecular Medicine that Specifically Targets Protein Kinase C in Heart Failure, 10th South China International Congress of Cardiology, Dongfang Hotel, Guangzhou, China, 10-13, April, 2008.

5. Wei Duan, Targeted drug delivery using RNA aptamer and nanoparticlesthe miracle of nanomedicine for the 21st century. VII Thailand Research Fund (TRF) Annual Congress. October 16-18, 2008, Holiday Inn Resort Regent Beach, Cha-Am, Thailand.

6. Wei Duan, Aptamer therapeutics: the 21st centurys magic bullet of nanomedicine, Second International Conference on Drug Discovery and Therapy'. February 1-4, 2010. Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

7. Wei Duan, Nucleic acid aptamer: the pearl in the crown of nanomedicine for molecular imaging of cancer, The 4th International Symposium on Bioanalysis, Biomedical Engineering and Nanotechnology (ISBBN 2010), Hunan University in Changsha, Hunan, China (June 3-6, 2010).

8. Wei Duan, RNA Aptamer: The Next Generation of Cancer Stem Cell-targeted Molecular Imaging, BITs 9th Annual Congress of International Drug Discovery Science and Technology --- Re-think Drug Innovations in Green-Eco Era (Session 7-1-2: Nucleic Acid Therapeutics), November 3-6, 2011, Shenzhen, China.